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Bassassin

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Everything posted by Bassassin

  1. Bassassin
    If you'll indulge me a bit here in Pedant's Corner - the whole "lawsuit" thing is a misnomer - no court cases ever happened. This was because by the time Norlin (70s parent company of Gibson) got around to threatening legal action against Elger/Hoshino (Ibanez brand owner) they had already changed the design of the "infringing" element of their Gibbo copies, which was the headstock. This acted as an incentive though, for other manufacturers & importers of Jap copies to pack it in & concentrate on original designs. The eventual result of this was really that pretty much everyone - pro or amateur - by the late 70s/early 80s played, and often endorsed, Japanese instruments. Interesting to note that the Japanese factories only stopped [i]exporting[/i] copies; they never actually stopped making them. Which leads onto interesting fact number two: the American companies - who had been rapidly losing market share based on overpriced & inferior product - decided "if you can't beat 'em - join 'em" and started outsourcing production to Japan. Fender chose Fujigen Gakki as manufacturer of MIJ Squiers, and later, Fenders - the same factory which built 70s and 80s Ibanez. Fender Japan is run by Kanda Shokai - owner of the Greco "lawsuit" brand, and currently many CIJ Fenders are built by Tokai! Anyway, I have an unashamedly massive hardon for 70s & 80s Japanese instruments, predominantly because many of them are so damn good. One of my favourite basses at the moment is a 1982 Ibanez RS924 Roadster - which sounds [i]phenomenally[/i] good & plays like a dream. Weighs a ton, though! Jon.
  2. Bassassin
    JapCrap? Bright pink??? Once my Ibby SR800 shifts, I'm going to find it very, very hard to say no. Consider me highly interested... Jon.
  3. Bassassin

    Rickenfaker

    Bassassin replied to a topic in Bass Guitars

    I played one a couple of years ago at Music Live - it sounded & felt nothing like a real Rick (or good copy) and the overall impression was budget bass - not at all good when the price tag was over £500. I was also quite put out by "Mr Indie Guitars", whose attitude was both cynical & ignorant. £370 is a little less painful, I suppose but it's really a generic Korean bass with a Rick body shape, rather than an in any way faithful copy. Construction of these is set-neck, not neckthrough. There are better & more accurate copies around, if you look - the Shine is a lot more realistic, and has a nice set of Seymour Duncan Rick pups as well: [url="http://www.tiptop.se/cgi-bin/multipage.cgi?id=2522"]http://www.tiptop.se/cgi-bin/multipage.cgi?id=2522[/url] These are available in a variety of pretty finishes too. I'd always recommend old JapCrap - like this one that's being sold right here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=25735"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=25735[/url] Jon.
  4. Bassassin
    Here's a nice, and interesting for geeks - Ibanez 2388b, from 1976. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160272954793"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=160272954793[/url] This is interesting in that it seems to be a "transitional" version between the early ones with mudbuckers & full-width inlays, and the more accurate later versions. This has small inlays & an accurate bridge position hi-gain copy & surround, but still has the little chrome humbucker-looking single coil in the neck. The mono output & tiny checker binding are common to all Ibanez Rick copies.as far as I've seen. But it's eye-wateringly pricey at £450. J.
  5. Bassassin
    [quote name='thepurpleblob' post='263735' date='Aug 16 2008, 08:47 PM']Stumbled across this on EvilBay.... [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120292115553"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=120292115553[/url] I am completely ignorant about Ibanez basses, that is don't know what models are cheap/expensive good/bad. This looks gorgeous though. Anybody know anything about it?[/quote] I know everything about it & everything in the ad's true - as is everything on my original BC pitch. And it's [i]much[/i] prettier in real life. If you wanted to come through from WeegieLand you're quite welcome to collect in person - I [i]hate[/i] packing basses to post! Jon.
  6. Bassassin
    I might do that - although realistically I can do without buying any more basses - particularly Ricky copies, as I already have two! I think they're like Pokemon, though - gotta catch 'em all... J.
  7. Bassassin
    [quote name='joegarcia' post='263628' date='Aug 16 2008, 03:36 PM']Should I be wary of this seller at all? People don't seem to speak very favorably of him on here.[/quote] I think it's just his propensity for picking up stuff cheap then sticking it back on at a substantial markup - seems a bit blatant, I suppose. At least if I do this I wait until the original auction's expired! (Actually I should amend that - 99p & no reserve, me. Usually.) Ashdigits has good feedback & has been knocking around Ebay for years - so I'd say if you don't mind the markup - go for it. J.
  8. Bassassin
    Not a Matsumoku or Fujigen, and probably not a Fresher, because the brand is virtually unknown in the UK. The wiring is probably a modification (on both basses mentioned) - it's unlikely it would come out of the factory like that. And I'm sorry but it's absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Ibanez - apart from in the sense that pretty much anyone trying to sell an unbranded 70s Japanese copy will swear blind it's an Ibanez. It's not. It was probably born wearing a Shaftesbury logo, and was - [i]possibly[/i] - made at the Maya/Rokkomann factory in Kobe. Maya is the only brand with a known provenance that I've seen with this hardware configuration & neck-through construction - but there were almost certainly others the same that aren't identified yet - all the hardware is very generic (and accurate, apart from the tuners) & appears on various brands. The tuners are a style that turn up on all sorts of Japanese basses from the very early 70s to the mid 80s, and later even appear on some Korean instruments. These were even used on UK-made Shergolds! The scratchplate's not original (neither are the speed knobs!) the original would have been solid or translucent white - but this does look great in my opinion, in fact all in all it's a great looking bass, that's a stunning bit of birdseye in the neck. I'd guess that your G-string vibration is down to a couple of things - the saddle slots have been filed out to get the action low (being a through-neck, you can't do any shimming on these) and the back of the tailpiece - in very authentic Rickenbacker style - has lifted under years of string tension, meaning there's going to be very little break angle over the bridge. Probably the best all round fix would be a replacement bridge - a Hipshot might even allow the action to go lower. Overall, a very nice bass at a reasonable price - which unfortunately I can't afford! Any chance you'd do a straight swap for this? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=23341"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=23341[/url] Jon.
  9. Bassassin
    Great spot - [i]never[/i] seen one of those before. And a surprisingly reasonable price, I'd say, for a British luthier-built Rickencopy, even from the infamous Mr Digits! Hope someone on here picks it up. J.
  10. Bassassin
    [quote name='Hiperi0n' post='229449' date='Jun 30 2008, 08:05 AM']bump..no gibson lovers? i'm open to offers[/quote] I love Victorys, have been GASing after one for years. Any danger you'd consider a deal involving [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=23341"]this[/url]? Jon.
  11. Bassassin
    [quote name='joe_bass' post='262941' date='Aug 15 2008, 09:42 AM']Clever advert, I guess there are several idiots bidding thinking "OMG this woman should have done her research, I'm gonna pick up a vintage Fender for a fraction of the cost, idiot!!"[/quote] That's [i]precisely[/i] why I have no sympathy for any idiots who might be placing genuine bids on this - I have no duty to protect greedy & ignorant opportunists from themselves. Yes - let them learn the hard way. J.
  12. Bassassin
    Looks pretty tidy to me - these things often seem to be beaten to hell. Is the body solid timber or ply, and what's that it's got instead of a bridge? If you can't get the bridge any lower, you can always shim the neck to get the action down - fretwork on these old Jap things is usually good, so hopefully it shouldn't be too rattly. J.
  13. Bassassin
    Well, the pitch is Mum (who knows nothing about guitars) selling on behalf of her son. Could be genuine - but if the son's only had it since the 80s where does the "late 60s/early 70s" bit come from? Could well be a scam - in which case the supporting evidence - do-gooder Ebayer Ian, who confirms that the body, at least "is a genuine early seventies deluxe model" must be part of it. Hard to guess which are shill bids these days, what with Ebay's bidding secrecy, buy for that piece of obvious plywood tat to have gone from a quid to over £200 & still have a week to run... J.
  14. Bassassin
    [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=260273828956"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=260273828956[/url] So how much is that neckplate worth? Because the rest of the bass is a cheap plywood 70s copy - probably a Korean-made Satellite - with a crap headstock transfer & a Fender neckplate. It's not even decent JapCrap! Jon.
  15. Bassassin
    I think the big difference here is that the Crucianelli versions are quite definitively Italian - styling details, construction, hardware - and Noirpunk's bass is just as specifically Japanese! I don't remember seeing those pickups on anything else before, but other than that it's a nice-but-generic late 60s/early 70s Jap EB2 copy, with Vox on the end! I'm assuming it's a bolt-on here - what shape's the neckplate, is there anything inside the body (a label or writing), and while it's got no strings, whip off the neck & see if there's anything stamped on it/in the pocket. There were a lot of "mystery guitars" coming out of Japan in the late 60s/early 70s so it may not be possible to work out where it was made, but it's probably reasonable to assume that some Vox brand instruments were sourced from Japan in the same era as they were being made in Italy - therefore I think your bass is probably a Vox Cougar, just sourced from a different factory to the more common versions. There's a precedent for this - Shaftesbury sourced Rickenbacker-ish semi-acoustic basses, and Tele-esque medium scale basses both from Japanese factories, and from Eko in Italy. J.
  16. Bassassin
    I've got a veritable History Of Ibanez! 2366B Precision copy (pre-1975) RS924 Roadster (1983) Soundgear SR800FL Fretless (1989) currently for sale [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=23341"]here[/url] and [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120292115553"]here[/url]. Soundgear SR800LE (1990) Ergodyne EDA-900 (2002) And why stop there? I'm GASing after a 70s Rick copy - 2388B/DX through-neck, early version with full width inlays & mudbuckers, an ATK (still grieving after the £99 BIN one I saw when I was brassic, gave a heads-up here & some lucky, lucky BCer snagged it) - and I really, really like the look of the Jetking... I've also got a thing called a Cimar XR2065, from about 1980 - Cimar was at the time marketed as a "by Ibanez" sub-brand, my bass is like a hybrid of an early Blazer & a Precision, with an extra J pickup stuck in for good measure... Jon.
  17. Bassassin
    [quote name='backwater' post='259286' date='Aug 10 2008, 01:55 PM']I suspect it is the same one - same seller, same serial, same description? Andy [/quote] Same set of stickers, different bass, IMO. J.
  18. Bassassin
    [quote name='backwater' post='259185' date='Aug 10 2008, 11:27 AM']Interesting that he sold it before, with the same description. Buyer then left negative feedback saying it was a fake, then saying it wasn't a fake? Now the seller is selling it again. Link : [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120271715980"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=120271715980[/url] Andy [/quote] Probably not the same one. This is the fourth or fifth one of these I've seen - looks like this particular pikey scumbag is just badging up trashy modern P copies and selling them as Ibanez. You will never, ever see a "genuine" Ibby precision copy with that style logo. They stopped making them around 1977, and they [b]all[/b] have the vintage "spaghetti" style logo. Serial number (where present) will be on the neckplate, which will also have "Made In Japan" stamped on the lower half, and rosewood boards are very, very uncommon - most MIJ 70s P copies had maple boards. They will also tend to look like vintage instruments, rather than something that arrived in a crate from China last Thursday. Jon.
  19. Bassassin
    [quote name='charic' post='258361' date='Aug 8 2008, 05:46 PM']You never cease to amaze me...[/quote] I amaze myself, too - but not in a good way. It's probably symptomatic of some sort of as-yet undefined personality disorder, and unless I'm sectioned & suitably medicated, some forthcoming but impossible-to-predict event will trigger a frenzied homicidal killing spree. Good to have something to look forward to, that's what I say. J.
  20. Bassassin
    [quote name='beerdragon' post='258402' date='Aug 8 2008, 07:00 PM']Here's a Kay. is that really the factory that made it? sounds like a bit of a p..s take. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KAY-DC-BASS-GUITAR-FROM-THE-GEKKIMEKKISPECKKI-FACTORY_W0QQitemZ280253364227QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item280253364227&_trkparms=72%3A984%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14.l1318"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KAY-DC-BASS-GUITAR-F...11.c0.m14.l1318[/url][/quote] His attempts at humour didn't communicate too well when he tried to sell this a month ago: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtopic=7473&view=findpost&p=230951"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?s=&sho...st&p=230951[/url] Not a single bid. Shame, because there's a nice through-neck Cort somewhere under the rattlecan black. No idea what wreckage the home-made tin scratchplate's hiding, though. J.
  21. Bassassin
    Sorry I missed your post about this - but better late than never... [quote]Compare the neck/headstock particularly - if it turns out the semi has a zero-fret, squared fretboard corners & plastic laminate overlay on the head - that's a positive comparison. Still won't tell us what it actually is - but it's a good start as clues go.[/quote] ...was what I said before, and apart from the fretboard ends, it checks out, and the clear lacquered neck shows another trait which goes with the aforementioned details -the neck is a strip ply laminate, sometimes called strip mahogany. So it is from the same origin as the other bass I linked - or at least the neck is. In the early days of the Japanese guitar industry, necks & bodies didn't always originate from the same factory - this is probably why, for example, we often see early Aria/Matsumoku and Fujigen Gakki guitars, both featuring identical 3-piece quarter sawn necks. Anyway, I digress. A lot of guitars & basses which have necks like this semi also have shield-shaped neckplates, which are associated with a Japanese brand called Zen-On. It's not clear if they built their own instruments. To confuse things, this bass has a plate I have never before seen used with this style neck - and these 6-bolt plates are [i]anecdotally[/i] connected to the Moridaira factory - they do appear on early examples of their own Morris brand, and are generally seen as reliable ID for rebranded Moridairas. So I'd speculate that this bass [i]might[/i] be from Moridaira, but using a neck from a different, as-yet unidentified manufacturer. J.
  22. Bassassin
    [quote name='Basszilla' post='248255' date='Jul 26 2008, 06:49 AM'] "Untill it's sold, Max is taking good care of this bass"[/quote] F*ck me that's a big dog. Where did he learn the old "balance the bass on your nose" trick? J.
  23. Bassassin
    [quote name='finnbass' post='257718' date='Aug 8 2008, 12:27 AM']I have one of the more 'nondescript later versions. [/quote] Got a pic of the headstock/neckplate, Mr Finn? Doesn't look like Matsumoku/JapCrap to me, possibly the brand went Korean for a bit after Matsumoku folded in '86. That's actually a lot like the post Matsumoku Aria Magna series. Jon.
  24. Bassassin
    Looks like the cheapo listing day has brought out the weirdo Rickenbuggers: Custom built twin neck: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120292057723"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=120292057723[/url] John Birch 4001: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150280304659"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=150280304659[/url] And an "awesome" Kay - think he means a different word beginning with "aw...": [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110277870677"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=110277870677[/url] J.
  25. Bassassin
    Now Ebayed, BIN £299 - item no 120292115553. If anyone here has a change of heart & decides they're interested after all, I'm prepared to pull the auction. J.
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